This invention relates to body fluid testing, and is particularly concerned with the separation of blood into various of its components, to enable a variety of tests to be performed, and to the separation of other body fluids, such as, bone marrow, sperm/seminal plasma, urine, and saliva.
In the field of hematology and related areas such as gene therapy and forensic pathology, and in other fields, such as the determination of sperm fertilising potential and cell separation from bone marrow, hitherto it has involved complex and expensive apparatus and procedures, and has required considerable operator skills to separate correctly the components of the paticular body fluid. This has been particularly so with blood, consequent on the need for careful preparation of a blood sample.
In other areas such as the testing or screening of a foetus for one or more of a number of possible abnormalities, it has hitherto predominantly been effected by invasive techniques frequently to the discomfort of the mother.